CURTIS CUP STARS OLD AND NEW TO PLAY ON PAUL LAWRIE LADIES TOUR

                               MICHELE THOMSON ...   ready to make comeback as a player
                                                           Image by Cal Carson Golf Agency
  
By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com 
Four former Curtis Cup players - Michele Thomson, Heather Stirling, Julie Otto and Pamela Pretswell - are among the entries for events on the inaugural Paul Lawrie Scottish Ladies Open Tour.
Thomson, from Ellon, was Scottish women's amateur champion in 2008, the year she played for Great Britain and Ireland in the Curtis Cup match over the Old Course, St Andrews.
Florida-based Stirling, from Bridge of Allan originally, played in the 2002 Curtis Cup match after winning the Scottish women's amateur championship and the Helen Holm Scottish stroke-play championship that year.
Otto, now based at Elie as a teaching pro, won the British women's amateur title and the English championship. As Julie Wade she played in five consecutive Curtis Cup matches from 1988 to 1996.
Pretswell was a member of the GB&I team that won back the Curtis Cup from the Americans at Nairn last June. She later turned pro and won a place on this year's Ladies European Tour.
Heather Stirling is a professional caddie at the Old Course, St Andrews in the summer and in Florida in the winter.
"I think it is a great idea to have a Scottish-based mini-tour for women pros and girl amateurs, to help them raise their game to the standard required to get through the Ladies European Tour," said Heather.
"I'm going to have start practising again."
Other big names who have signed up to play on the PLGC SLOT include former British women's amateur stroke-play champion Heather MacRae (Gleneagles) and former British girls champion Claire Queen (Carrick at Loch Lomond).
The Paul Lawrie Scottish Ladies Open Tour tees off at Marriott Dalmahoy on April 18 and will form an Edinburgh double-header with Ratho Park as the venue the following day.
The first 13 events on the tour are over 18 holes. The 14th will be the Tour Championship over 36 holes and two days at Marriott Dalmahoy on October 9-10.
Entries can be made to all the events online at www.scottishladiestour.co.uk
There is no membership fee necessary to play on the PLGC SLOT and entry fees do not have to be paid until the draw for the relevant tournament has been made.
Fields are limited to around the 30 mark on a 20 lady pros-10 amateurs ratio. If the amateurs do not take up their entitlement, then the vacant places will go lady pros on a reserve list in the other in which they were received.